A Malaysian food, travel and lifestyle blog.

The next day, we went for a day trip to Florence. The bus from our hotel arrived late resulting in us missing the train. Had to wait for the next train and reached Florence at 1pm. Went straight to the San Lorenzo market for leather goods. It’s about ten minutes from the train station. The leather goods there were nice and of good quality. Better than the ones you get from shopping malls and much cheaper. rif bought me a lovely leather handbag after bargain hunting for 3 hours. We got a very good deal after I haggled with the stall owner until she got so frustrated and caved in. (I can be pushy :D)

San Lorenzo Market

We looked for this restaurant called Fiaschetteria-Trattoria Mario since it was said to be one of the best (and cheapest) places to eat in Florence. Found it hidden in a small corner behind a posh looking restaurant, Mercato. There was quite a long line and it was already 2.30pm! After waiting for half an hour, we finally got a table.The food was absolutely delicious. We ordered their daily specials; I had the prawn fettucine (€5.50) while rif had the spaghetti with octopus (€6). The fettucine was al-dente and coated with light, creamy sauce and topped with small but succulent prawns. The octopus spaghetti was simply divine. Tossed with olive oil and garlic chunks, I never knew octopus and spaghetti could go so well together. Lip-smacking good!We didn’t take any pictures as it was very very crowded in the restaurant. We had to share a small table with another couple. rif and I shared a caesar salad (€2.50) and Zuppa di Verdura(€3), avegetable soup. Didn’t quite like the caesar salad as I found it too bitter. The soup was robust in flavour. I relished every mouthful of it.

Our bill came up to €20 for the above plus a bottle of water and bread. We didn’t eat the bread given as we thought we wouldn’t have to pay for it if we didn’t eat it. But it was still charged to us. Dammit… 0_0

The Duomo (cathedral) is dedicated to Santa Maria del Fiori. It was designed by Arnolfo di Cambio, one of the greatest architect-sculptors of his time.

After lunch, we walked around San Lorenzo until it was time to catch our train at 5.30pm back to Rome. We bought a whole pizza from a pizza stand near Termini Station. It tasted really good. So good that no pizza I’ve eaten after that can compare to this. Right rif? 🙂